The degree symbol does not appear on all keyboards, including standard US and UK layouts, but the coordinate parser requires a degree symbol when using the DMS format. Users with such keyboards should be able to enter coordinates in DMS format without having to copy and paste a degree symbol from somewhere.

Some options:

• Don't require symbols at all. This would make it much easier to copy and paste from sites which don't use them (e.g. TGN, GNIS), e.g. "1 2 3 N 4 5 6 E" for "1°2'3"N, 4°5'6"E"
• Don't require a symbol for degrees as long as the minutes and seconds have symbols, e.g. "1 2' 3" N 4 5' 6" E"
• Allow an ASCII replacement for the symbol, e.g. "d" (for "degrees") or "o" (mimicking the shape of the symbol), e.g. "1d 2' 3" N 4d 5' 6" E"